BYU head coach Dave Rose, Anson Winder and Tyler Haws talk to the media after their loss to Oregon Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the second round of the 2014 NCAA tournament in Milwaukee. Oregon won 87-68.

The LDS Church's announcement 18 months ago that missionaries can serve at a younger ago has caused BYU coaches to adjust accordingly.

“This next two or three years it seems like a two-year adjustment (with returning missionaries), but it’s going to take a little bit longer than that to see how this really works.”

BYU coach Dave Rose

PROVO — The LDS Church's announcement 18 months ago that missionaries can serve at a younger age has caused BYU coaches to adjust accordingly.

In the Cougar basketball program, it has been common for athletes to play one year, then serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These days, however, an increasing number of players are leaving immediately on a mission, then returning with four consecutive years of eligibility.

For example, both Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth played as freshmen, then left for missionary service. Both players returned early in the spring, giving them enough time to prepare for the upcoming season.

But more BYU-bound players are finishing high school early, like the program's most recent returned missionary, guard Jordan Chatman. He graduated early from high school and left on his mission to Taiwan. He was on an accelerated academic program and earned his associate degree before leaving for missionary service. Chatman completed his mission at the end of March.

“That’s the part of this whole missionary thing that will be the most interesting to me,” said coach Dave Rose. “Most of the guys will leave before they enroll. Most of these kids will be going out in May, the first of June and coming back in May or June.”

Former Lone Peak guard Nick Emery left last May and is serving in Germany. Another Lone Peak star, TJ Haws, is leaving this month for France.

Chatman is the first of this wave of new players to serve missions before enrolling.

“I’m really looking forward to watching Jordan and seeing how he develops over the next four or five months and fits into the college environment that he hasn’t experienced yet,” Rose said. “This next two or three years it seems like a two-year adjustment (with returning missionaries), but it’s going to take a little bit longer than that to see how this really works.”

There are many different circumstances, of course. Former Cougar Noah Hartsock returned home from his mission in late August, then started school a week later. “That’s tough,” Rose said.

Forward Eric Mika, meanwhile, played one season before his mission, and incoming freshman Ryan Andrus plans to do the same.

Certainly, Mika enjoyed a successful season before his mission, averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in 2013-14.

“He had a tremendous freshman year. The expectations were really high for Eric,” Rose said. “To be a starter at this level for a team that made it to the NCAA tournament, and have the numbers he had his energy and his competitive spirit night in and night out was a huge factor in our success. His game improved so much. He improved as a free-throw shooter. When he gets back off his mission, we’ll have ourselves a really special guy.”

Still, Rose said, “the majority of guys” in the program will probably leave for missions right after high school — like Chatman — and return in the spring or early summer to gear up for the upcoming season.

Is it more beneficial for the program if athletes play one year and serve a mission, or complete their missionary service first before enrolling?

“What I’m looking forward to is the continuity,” Rose said. “I’ve always felt like it’s good to come play a year then have two years off after you’ve played because you experienced it and you know what the grind is. Those guys that leave right out of high school won’t have that year to know what it’s like. But hopefully, the consistency of them playing four straight years will outweigh the fact that those two years is more anticipation than knowing what it’s like."

Jeff Call has been a sportswriter for the Deseret News since 1997. He is the BYU beat writer and has been covering Cougar sports since 1993, when he served as sports editor at the Daily Universe. Call has written several more ..